The present invention relates generally to selecting a suitable brightness for a liquid crystal display.
Relatively low-contrast viewing conditions tend to negatively impact the viewing experience of a viewer of an liquid crystal display device. Examples of liquid crystal display devices include, for example, a LCD television, a LCD monitor, a LCD mobile device, among other devices including a liquid crystal display. The negative impacts for the viewer may include, for example, eyestrain and fatigue.
Low-contrast viewing conditions tend to arise when a device is used in an aggressive power-reduction mode, where the backlight power level of the liquid crystal device (and thus the illumination provided by the backlight) is significantly reduced making the image content (e.g., still image content and video image content) appears generally dark and the details of which are difficult to determine by the viewer. The contrast of the image content may be vastly reduced, or in some cases, pegged at black, resulting in many image features to fall below the visible threshold.
Low-contrast viewing conditions tend to also arise when an LCD display is viewed under high ambient light, for example, direct sunlight. In these situations, the minimum display brightness that a viewer may perceive may be elevated due to the high ambient light in the surroundings. The image content may appear “washed out” where it is intended to be bright, and the image content may appear generally featureless in darker regions of the image.
For either of the above-described low-contrast viewing conditions, and other low-contrast viewing conditions, the tonal dynamic range of the image content tends to be compressed and the image contrast is substantially reduced, thereby degrading the viewing experience of the user. Due to increasing consumer concern for reduced energy costs and demand for device mobility, it may be desirable to provide improved image content to enhance the viewing experience under low-contrast viewing conditions.
What is desired is a display system that provides a suitable enhancement for a particular image.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.